St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-10-15


The Indians yet knew ct my location.
They knew that one or more white
men were in the valley. but could not
tell just where. 1t was morning. you
and before night came they
would know all about it. They would
creep and dodge and reconnoitre. and
before noon they would be certain that
they had only one man to deal with.
Any attempt to leave by way Of the
valley would be checkmated. and l
could not get out at the upper end
without going over the wild and rugged
I should. however. have
to the mouth Of the gulch to
try some other way. but while was
burning q last match I heard = great
clatter on the rocky bed OF the rift a
few yards of. Believing the Indians
to be coming. l looked swiftly around
for some place of concealment or adj
vantage, and to my right l saw a hole
in the rocks. In three jumps was at
the spot. and ten seconds later | had
crawletl into the hole on hands and
knees. The minute I got my nose in
side / smelt bear. Indeed, the odor
was strong enough to stific me. l
knew also that had entered den or
cave Of considerable extent. and l
hastily struck . match to look around
ME. 1t was ; cave. While the en-
trance was very narrow. the chamber
was Mt least eight by twelve in size.
and high enough for me to stand up
in.
It required only few seconds to
take in what I have told you. and the
match had just expired when I heard .
sniff and ..wocfr' at the entrance.
and not only smelt bear. but ! heard
him. He had his head in the hole. and
I whirlcd my rifle about and fired right
into his face. The roar he uttered
shook the solid rock Of the cavern. and
he drew back. tumbled about in the
gulch for two or three minutes, and
then made of. whining with pain and
growing with anger as he went. When
l could hear him no more. l lighted
another match and looked for hairs on
the rocks. They were there in plenty.
and they were proofs that it was a Gin
namon bear whom / had turned out Of
house and home. There was = couple
Of loose rocks on the floor of the den.
and the first move I made was to roll
them up and block the entrance. While
they did not fill the aperture. they
created an obstruction which neither
man nor bear could remove while l was
behind them.
In about twenty minutes the bear re.
turned, accompanied by his mate. and
for the next half hour they made lively
work for me. They were fiercely de
termined to get 1t me. and. as | die
not wish to discharge my rife again
for fear the report would be heard By
the Indians, l had to resist them By
iamming their heads with the muzzle
The brutes gave it up At last as bat
Job, but while the well one went away
the wounded one lay down exactly il
front of the entrance and licked hi
wounds and uttered low growls. HI
had put himself On guard. and b,
meant to stay by until he had had re
venge. l had hastily gathered up .
small quantity Of provisions when
left camp. and. though l had no water
l should not suffer much for couple
of days. The only thing I could d.
was to make myself rs comfortable q.
possible and wait for something to turr
up. Icarcd very little about the bears
knowing that could kill them of .
any time, but the Indians were to b
seriously considered. They woult
leave no stone unturned to find my
hiding place. and once they found me
situated as I then was, was deat
man.
There was no change in the situation
until about sundown. when the othc
bear returned. and second attemp
was made to get at me, They were 9
determined that had to use my re
volver, firing four shots, and. Will
neither Of them was killed. both wer,
driven to fury BY the wounds. Tho on
went OF as before, while the other Ia,
down 1t the mouth Of the den, and tn
night passed without disturbance.
| slept pretty we'll for man in bear
den, but awoke just IS daylight va
filtering down into the gulch. It Va
. fierce roar from the bear whicl
aroused me. I thought his mate ha'
returned and that another attempt Va
to be made on my defenccs. but I Va
quickly set right The bear starte'
down the gulch, and inside of minut
/ heard shots and shouts. Then tn
roars Of q second bear were heard. an
for five minutes there was . terribl
commotion hundred feet below me.
'could see dark shadows struggling q
ecther, and knew the shouts cam
from the Indians. but was not clea
in the matter until the day grey
stronger and the fight was over. The
l made out . heap Of dead.
It was q good hour before I pulle
away the rocks and crawled out
had figured that the Indians had traile
me up the gulch and beer attacked 3
the bears, and was right I simpl
waited to be sure that all were dead
When I finally crept cautiously dow
to the heap found the two hears IN
three Indians in . pile, and each and .
were growing cold in death. The bea'
had been shot and stabbed again IN
again. but the redskins were sight
see. The flesh had literally been Stripe
of their bones. and one of them. who's
hody I pulled out for the purpose I